Intensive Care: Medicaid Provider Assessments — Regulatory Fee, or Priority Tax Debt?

Gibbins Advisors co-founder Ronald Winters co-authored an article in the American Bankruptcy Institute Journal examining how states use provider assessments (often called provider taxes or fees) to unlock federal Medicaid funding and the crucial role these revenues play in sustaining healthcare providers.

The piece also explores how courts have treated these assessments in bankruptcy proceedings — whether they should be classified as regulatory fees or excise taxes — a distinction that carries major implications for hospitals, nursing homes, creditors, and vendors given the priority status of taxes under the Bankruptcy Code.